Hi, welcome to the forum from Louisiana, glad you joined.
Some people make it a lot more complicated than it has to be. If you are going to use an incubator, get a decent one and follow the instructions. If you haven't bought one yet you might start a thread on here asking about a specific one you are thinking about. Some are easier or more reliable than others.
Using a broody hen can seem a lot more complicated, mainly because you have so many more options on how to do that. The main problem with using a broody hen is to get one to go broody to start with. You can't control that which is why many of us use incubators. If you want to go the broody hen route, if you tell us about your facilities we may be able to help you uncomplicate the broody hen route.
Unless you have Welsummer hens you will not get breeds. If the other hens are pure breeds you will get hybrids. If they are not breeds you will get crosses. If you can tell us what breeds or crosses you have we may be able to tell you what color and pattern chicks you might get. The Welsummer rooster should have the genetics for dark brown eggs. If we know what hens you have we may be able to tell you what color of eggs to expect when crossed with the Welsummer.
